Dallas resident Jeanine Blair, 48, was diagnosed with rectal cancer in January 2025. After trying various treatments, she decided to stop and focus on planning her end-of-life care. Blair hired a death doula, Britna Savarese, to help her with advanced directives, funeral wishes, and body donation plans.

Planning for the End

Blair’s decision to hire a death doula was motivated by her experience with her parents’ deaths. Her mother, father, and brother passed away within a four-year period, and Blair had to navigate the end-of-life planning process alone. She wanted to spare her sisters from going through the same ordeal.

Savarese, the death doula, provides emotional support and helps clients plan for their death or the death of a loved one. She has a background in mortuary science and became a death doula after becoming disillusioned with the funeral industry.

Blair and Savarese worked together to plan Blair’s funeral, including her wish to donate her body to The University of Texas Southwestern’s willed body program. Blair hopes that her body can be used to help scientists learn more about rectal cancer, which she believes is underresearched.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.